Brennan wins arms race with Holbrook

IN the last decade, University of Hawaii football fans have witnessed the birth of several future National Football League quarterbacks, including Tony Romo, Ben Roethlisberger and Tom Brady.

And while it's too early to say if Colt Brennan or Chase Holbrook will follow a similar flight pattern, the two signal callers threw the football all over the lot from the first play at 6:07 p.m. until the last 220 minutes later.

Folks in these parts have seen Colt toss six touchdown passes in one game before, something he did in last night's WAC win over New Mexico State for the fourth time to move closer to the NCAA record for most touchdown passes in a career held by Ty Detmer at 121.

Colt caught and passed Tim Chang, who set the school mark of 117 three years ago, with two third-quarter strikes of 23 yards to Davone Bess and 11 yards to Ryan Grice-Mullins to give him 118 in his career. He added his 119th in the fourth quarter on a 12-yard completion to Bess to secure Hawaii's 50-13 victory.

Holbrook isn't quite in that neighborhood with 56, but if he throws the ball as often as he did last night, he may move in by the time he's done next season. The lanky junior from Texas completed 37 of 52 passes for 328 yards, but only one touchdown.

As well as he played, Holbrook didn't get his team in the end zone often enough. Losing top wide receiver Chris Williams to a broken collarbone last week didn't help Holbrook's cause against Hawaii, but let's face it, Colt clearly won the head-to-head battle.

He completed 29 of 46 passes for 425 yards and six touchdowns. And that's after starting the game with an interception.

"I never think about any of that stuff," Brennan said, when told he had moved to second all-time behind Detmer. "The only time I think about it is when somebody brings it up."

AS WELL AS he played last night, Colt's Heisman hopes have faded. They were always a long shot at best. But with Hawaii entering the second bye week as one of five remaining unbeaten teams nationally, it doesn't matter if the Downtown Athletic Club doesn't call.

What Colt has done the past several weeks on a suspect right ankle keeps alive Hawaii's dreams of playing on a BCS stage. Having another bye week also allows that tender ankle to toughen for a difficult stretch drive that includes home games with Boise State and Washington.

"To be honest with you, it seems like we got the job done the first eight games and now the real season starts vs. Fresno," Brennan said. "My ankle still hurts, that's just the way it is. I got leg-whipped and stepped on, but hey, I played through it."

Several teams ranked around Hawaii lost yesterday as well, giving the Warriors a chance to move up in today's BCS standings. And while everyone will talk about the yards and completions the two quarterbacks managed last night, the only number that really matters at this point is the zero in Hawaii's record.

Sports Editor Paul Arnett has been covering sports for the Star-Bulletin since 1990. Reach him at parnett@starbulletin.com.